Macho truck driver Tony Reardon came to Springfield in 1981 and immediately caught the eye of many of the town’s single women. Asked to return to town by his mother, Bea, in order to help look after his trouble-making kid sister, Nola, Tony soon became an assistant manager with Trish Lewis at The Hideout and the pair briefly dated. In January 1982, Tony bought a club called "Wired for Sound." At this time, Tony flirted with Katie Parker until she realized that he was more interested in her friend Hillary. Unfortunately, Hillary was engaged to Derek Colby, so Tony let himself be seduced by the wealthy, spoiled Vanessa Chamberlain in Chicago. One day, Vanessa arranged for Tony to take a vacation and stay in the guesthouse of the Chamberlain mansion in Chicago. When Tony arrived, Vanessa wasted no time joining him. However, it didn’t take long for Tony to realize that he had made a mistake and he decided to cool things down but Vanessa had other plans. She phoned her private detective, Bart Nielsen, and asked him to follow Tony and report back to her on all his activities. Meanwhile Derek reacted jealously when he saw Tony and Hillary dancing one evening. The pair had an argument and Hillary stormed out. Tony, worried about Hillary going home alone especially since she was so upset, offered to drive her. They went to his apartment to talk, mainly because Hillary feared disturbing her roommate, Katie. It was after 2:30 in the morning when Hillary, emotionally exhausted, fell asleep on Tony's sofa. Later, Vanessa was informed by her detective that Hillary spent the night at Tony's, so she planted a type-written note on Derek's desk telling him WHERE Hillary spent the previous night, knowing full well that he'd take quick action. Though Vanessa expected to have Tony back in line very soon, her plan backfired. Unfortunately, Tony believed that Nola was the culprit, so he made a public scene at Kelly Louise's christening when he confronted Nola with "her schemes" and told everyone how Nola had tried to pass off Kelly Louise as Kelly Nelson's baby and only used Floyd as a sperm donor. Tony quickly realized who was responsible for the note and not long after, Tony and Vanessa parted ways, with him literally dumping her into a dumpster!

He then decided to go after Hillary, who was no longer engaged. eanwhile, one day, a truck transporting a house in the Reardon neighborhood suffered a mishap, hurling the house into the Reardon kitchen. It knocked out one of the kitchen walls and turned the kitchen and backyard into an open junkyard! The Reardon household got turned upside down as they all try to figure out what to do. After checking out her insurance policy, Bea learned that her policy didn't cover collision. James Garibaldi, the owner of the crashing house, told the Reardons that he was broke and unable to pay for damages. However, he did offer them his house as a settlement. After the man gave the Reardons the deed to his house, he left quickly. Now, they had to figure out something to do with their new “addition." Tony stumbled upon the idea of using all lumber and other building materials and building a bar in the vacant lot adjacent to the house. He’d call it Tony’s Place. However, his dream was short-lived when Ross informed him that in order to open a bar, he’d need $20,000 for a liquor license. Tony decided to take Garibaldi to court to make sure he paid for damages done to the boarding house. Soon it was learned that Garibaldi owned the construction company who is giving the estimate! They realized Garibaldi wasn't as broke as they believed him to be. Realizing that they needed professional help in turning the place into an “Irish Saloon," Tony tricked Garbaldi into believing that he taped their conversation - where Garibaldi admitted to what had happened and warned Tony to back off if he didn’t want to have some bones broken. Tony visited attorney Ross Marler to discuss presenting Garibaldi with a large out-of-court settlement. He told Ross about the fake taping and how he implied to Garibaldi that the damage could cost him about thirteen million dollars! Soon, Tony told Bea that Garibaldi’s construction company would do all the work on the pub if Tony dropped the lawsuit against him.

A week later, in January 1983, the usual Springfield crowd helped celebrate the opening of Tony & Company that Tony would later rename in Company! Meanwhile, Tony met and fell in love with a woman named Susie. But he didn't know that Susie was actually a prominent ballerina until his sister Maureen recognized Susie in a newspaper. Tony then learned that Susie had left the ballet school to have time for herself and to enjoy life beyond the ballet. Not long after, Edward Villella, a prominent ballet dancer and owner of a famous ballet school in New York arrived to search for a dancer as lead dancer for his new theatre "Sleeping beauty" in London. He thought Susie was the perfect lead dancer but Susie refused his offer because she wanted to marry and have a family. Soon Tony learned about Edward's offer and couldn't understand how Susie could refuse it. So he decided to go to New York with Susie so that she could show him how her life should be. Arriving in New York, Tony and Susie had a nice time and, one evening, after Tony convinced Susie to dance with Edward, he realized that the ballet was what she really wanted after all. So he encouraged her to never give up dancing, even if it meant losing him. As a result, Susie stayed in New York and a Tony returned home.

One day in May, Tony walked home and saw a beautiful woman named Annabelle. Disturbed by his staring, indeed leering at her, she decided to use her martial arts training and well, flip him upside his back! Once Tony recovered, he and Annabelle became friends and soon started dating. Then Tony found a roll of film in an old camera left behind by his father, Tom Reardon, who had deserted his family years earlier. When Tony developed the roll, he was curious about one picture, which showed Tom on a fishing trip alongside four other men and a beautiful woman who looked like Annabelle. One of the four other men was Bill Bauer but Bert refused to talk about her husband with Tony. As for the woman in the picture, Annabelle stated that she looked like her mother who mysteriously drowned when Annabelle was very young. Before Annabelle and Tony could investigate the picture, Nola, wanting to play detective, stole it. Nola and Quint took the picture and went to Chicago where Nola called Bill, and Bill became so nervous at the mention of the long-ago fishing trip that he went back to the bottle after years of sobriety! However, before Bill could meet with Nola and Quint, a mysterious figure appeared and pushed Bill out of his hotel window! At this time, Annabelle was also in Chicago to visit Katie Parker but had a blackout of the night of Bill’s murder. After she recognized Bill in the newspaper, Annabelle thought she had killed him. Tony didn't believe that and destroyed the photo but Annabelle informed D.A. Ross Marler about her suspicion. Ross, unlike Mike Bauer, believed in Annabelle's innocence. However, Annabelle had nightmares in which she killed Bill and was convinced she was guilty. Meanwhile, Annabelle's father, Eli Sims, arrived from Chicago to live at the boarding house. Not long after, Henry Chamberlain got a photo of the mysterious woman from the fishing trip with a death threat and after Tony and Annabelle arrived, Henry saw Annabelle and had a heart attack. While convalescing at Cedars hospital, Henry scribbled on a notepad the name of his old friend, H.B. Lewis. Soon the boisterous patriarch from Tulsa made his grand entrance into Springfield and one day, when Annabelle visited Henry, his life support machines went haywire and H.B. accused Annabelle of attempted murder. When HB went to see Annabelle, Tony intervened and told HB to leave.

In the meantime, Tony talked Annabelle into agreeing to see a psychiatrist named Dr. Gwen Harding, even though Eli had always been against psychiatrists. Meanwhile, HB asked to meet Annabelle and when Tony and Nola learned about it, they tried hiding it from her. Unfortunately, Annabelle overheard their conversation and went to a hotel to meet HB. Annabelle was shocked to find HB bleeding and got fainted. When Tony arrived, he found blood but no HB. He also found the stolen picture and realized that someone was trying to hurt all family members of the men in the picture. Later, when Annabelle went to Dr. Harding again, she remembered, under hypnosis, how she had been afraid of water and had bad memories of a boat. Unfortunately, after the meeting, someone broke into Harding's office and stole Annabelle's therapy session tapes. Not long after, Dr. Gwen Harding was fatally strangled. The murderer also tried to kill Henry by having him overdose on his own medicine but Henry survived. Soon after, HB threatened Annabelle with a gun and asked her about the fishing picture. To Annabelle's relief, Tony had followed them and overpowered HB. He then called Ross but Ross let HB go after HB told him that his life and everyone else's life was in danger that was related to the men in the picture. Not long after, Billy Lewis' car exploded, but luckily no one was inside. Luckily for everyone, Ross’s assistant had made copies of the tapes. When Tony and Ross listened to them, they became suspicious of Eli because of contradictions in Eli's statements. They went to Eli's apartment to talk to him but since he wasn't there, they went inside. The pair found bombs in the house and realized Eli was the murderer.

Meanwhile, Henry assembled the Bauers, Reardons and Lewis' s to his house and told everyone the dark secret: Some 20 years earlier, business associates Henry, Bill, HB, Tom and Brandon Spaulding had taken a fishing trip together to Lake Elizabeth, where they drunkenly but harmlessly caroused with a good-time girl named Annie, who was Annabelle's mother. One night all the men, except for Tom, took Annie out on a boat. They dared her to strip down and jump into the lake, which she did. Later, her body was found on the shore. The jittery and embarrassed men took an oath of secrecy and swore never to discuss the incident. At this moment, Eli threatened Tony with his gun but when Tony learned that Eli had planted a bomb in the camera at Henry’s house, he pushed Eli and escaped. Luckily for everyone, Ross realized the bomb was in the camera and threw it out the door. Meanwhile, Annabelle (who had no idea that her father was the killer) went to Lake Elizabeth and remembered having gone there as a child. Eli followed her and since Tony realized that Annabelle was in danger, he followed as well. Truly demented, Eli kidnapped Annabelle and believed that she was her mother. Eli then confessed Annabelle that he had killed Tom and Annabelle suddenly remembered how she had witnessed Eli killing Bill. Eli took Annabelle out onto the lake and she remembered watching her mother drown because Eli had killed her, too. Eli tried to kill Annabelle by hitting her with an oar, but Tony caught up to them and jumped Eli. Tony and Annabelle ended up in the water with Eli trying to kill Tony, when Eli was shot. Eli's body fell into the lake and Tony and Annabelle got to shore. After Ross arrived, Annabelle lead the Reardons to Tom's grave and told them about Tom coming to see her dad just shortly after her mommy died. Tom had told Eli that Annie hadn't done anything to be ashamed of. Mourning Tom again, Bea was at least secure in the knowledge that Tom had not willfully deserted his family, as they had long believed. Meanwhile, although HB told Ross that he had fired the shot that killed Eli, Ross chose to keep quiet since it was a case of self-defense.

Annabelle now blamed herself for everything that happened and wanted to leave town but Tony got her to break down and let out all her pain and anger. Tony finally got her to admit that she loved her father and she missed him. The nightmare over, Tony and Annabelle made plans to marry. Later, in December of that year, Floyd Parker won in the lottery and left the money at Company. Unfortunately street guy Lujack Luvonaczek heard about it and, in January 1984, he knocked Tony out in an effort to steal the money. However, after Lujack learned that Floyd was from the working class, he regretted what he had done and gave Floyd his money back. Impressed, Tony gave Lujack a job at Company to give him a shot at a better life. In the meantime, because of his head injury, Tony started to have collapses and blackouts. For a while he tried to hide it and although Ed told him that only a surgery would save his life, Tony refused.. When the family confronted Tony's s about his strange behavior, Tony lied that he had alcohol problems. On Valentine's Day, Tony attended a mask ball at the Country Club where he collapsed. Ed and the mysterious Dr. John Stevens rushed to Tony and Stevens had to reveal himself as Jim Reardon, Tony’s brother. After undergoing successful surgery by Ed, Tony was cured. Finally free and reunited, Tony and Annabelle married in May.

Not long after, Tony and Annabelle moved into a cottage which was sold to them by Piper Realty. Unbeknownst to Tony and Annabelle, the owner of Piper Realty, Susan Piper, did not want the cottage sold to anyone because Susan's mysterious anonymous benefactor had forbidden it..! Soon after they moved in, Annabelle started having psychic visions and started to feel cold spots in the house. Annabelle told Tony she thought the cottage was haunted. While Tony thought his new wife was nuts, Jim, believed Annabelle's tales. Soon, Jim and Annabelle began a close friendship that left Tony feeling excluded and angry. Soon after, Jim and Hillary, who were engaged by now, and their friends, Dr. Claire Ramsey and journalist, Fletcher Reade were caught up in the investigation of the cottage. They were particularly struck by a picture of a woman, whom an elderly librarian named Miss Emma Witherspoon, identified as Victoria. The librarian added that the dress Victoria was wearing in a portrait in Tony and Annabelle's cottage was the same one Victoria had worn some 40 years ago at a Founders' Day Picnic. Then things got really bizarre. Annabelle started having dreams about a black man and a little girl who were screaming while the painting started to cry real tears. Annabelle and her friends found secret rooms hidden behind paneling and strange Caribbean voodoo artifacts. Later, Annabelle had more bizarre dreams about a young black woman named, Sharina Tamerlaine.

Later, Miss Emma was brutally assaulted by Jim Young, henchman working for Susan Piper. On her deathbed, Miss Emma eerily posed a riddle, "What's thicker than water and runs uphill, straight to the heart of a rich man's well?" Shortly thereafter, Hillary was staring out the front window of the cottage, thinking, when she saw the Spaulding mansion on Skyline Drive and figured out the answer to the riddle -- only to have a music box sent to the Reardons by Susan Piper blow up in her face, killing her instantly! For a while, Jim couldn't work through his grief over Hillary, until Annabelle seemed to be able to comfort him, making Tony even more jealous. Eventually, Jim and Fletcher were able to work through their grief and investigated to find that Alan Spaulding had been born on Founder's Day, and Victoria was Alan and Alexandra Spaulding's half-sister. The situation grew more dangerous as Annabelle explored a secret passageway, where she found a skeleton clinging to a doll! In the meantime, Quinton discovered that Brandon Spaulding's shipping business had been based in Barbados, where Susan Piper had connections. Later, Annabelle discovered in the doll some hidden papers inside that had writings about Sharina and Victoria. Annabelle convinced Jim, Fletcher, Claire and even Tony to go to Barbados to finish the investigation. Unfortunately, they would be followed by the chain smoking, Susan Piper and her henchman/lover John Young. Susan set Fletcher and Claire adrift in a boat in the middle of a storm, but they survived after several harrowing nights. Susan kidnapped and tied up Jim and Annabelle and tried to drown then in quicksand. Fortunately, Tony came and rescued them! Then Susan followed by John tried to chase them all around the island with a gun. But, Susan Piper instead ended up falling to her presumed death into a lava pit!

It was then revealed that Susan had wanted the cottage so she could sell it to the Spaulding family for millions. Later, came the revelation that Brandon Spaulding was very much alive! Showing himself, Brandon revealed that Brandon had an affair with Sharina, and they had a child, Victoria. Knowing that society would never accept their mixed-race marriage, Brandon planned to move Sharina and Victoria from the cottage to Barbados. But Brandon's wife, Penelope Spaulding found out about the affair, and came to the cottage with a gun. Penelope had just given birth to her second child, Alan, and she was very weak. Penelope tried to shoot Sharina, but Sharina's brother Conrad Tamerlaine took the bullet as little Victoria screamed. Conrad died on the floor of the cottage, while Penelope collapsed after the shooting and died shortly thereafter. Brandon whisked Sharina and Victoria away to Barbados, promising to join them when he could. Later, when Lucille Wexler tried to kill him in his nursing home, he faked his own death. He later hired Susan to look after the cottage. After the bizarre nightmarish events in Barbados and Brandon's confession, Annabelle, Tony, Jim, Claire, Fletcher and Alex then went back to Springfield to go on with their lives. In June, Tony sold Company to Kurt Corday and he and Annabelle moved to Boston, Massachusetts.

In February 1990, Annabelle and Tony's voice could be overheard on videotape that Bea (who had moved in with the couple) made to send to Tony's younger sister, Chelsea when she became engaged to Johnny Bauer. Some say they heard the sound of a little child's laughter as well and Chelsea mentioned something about Annabelle and Tony's young son, Tom. In 1993, the entire Reardon family returned to Springfield to attend Maureen's funeral. After the funeral, instead of going to Ed Bauer's, they gathered at their old home, the Reardon Boarding house. Over the next few years, Bridget and Nola would head Company until Nola sold it to Buzz Cooper in 1999. Buzz then renovated Company and continued the Reardon tradition.